Sprinkler head

ABSTRACT

A SPRINGLER HEAD COMPRISING A MAIN BODY HOUSING, HAVING A THREADED CAP MEMBER SECURED TO THE UPPER END THEREOF, ADAPTED WITH AN OPENING THEREIN TO RECEIVE A SLEEVE MEMBER WHICH IS SLIDABLY DISPOSED WITHIN THE OPENING, AND A CORE ASSEMBLY BEING ADAPTED TO BE ROTATABLY SECURED WITHIN THE SLEEVE MEMBER, THE CORE ASSEMBLY BEING PROVIDED WITH A FRICTIONAL CLUTCH ASSEMBLY WHICH INCLUDES A PLURALITY OF SLIP RINGS, A SPRING AND A LOCK RING WHEN AXIALLY ALIGNED WITHIN THE SLEEVE MEMBER, ALLOWING THE CORE OR NOZZLE MEMBER TO ROTATE BY MEANS OF A BALL STRIKING A BASE PORTION OF THE CORE ASSEMBLY.

Nov. 7, 1972 E. N. REYNOLDS $702,173

SPRINKLER HEAD I Filed Feb. 19, 1971 {4 7/72 O f8 m 28 24 ZZ Z; Z 35 3855 /Z 22 24 74 z /Z INVENTOR,

United States Patent 3,702,173- SPRINKLER HEAD Elmer N. Reynolds, 15915Arbela Drive, Whittier, Calif. 90603 Filed Feb. 19, 1971, Ser. No.116,863 Int. Cl. Bb 15/10 U.S. C]. 239-204 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A sprinkler head comprising a main body housing, having athreaded cap member secured to the upper end thereof, adapted with anopening therein to receive a sleeve member which is slidably disposedwithin the opening, and a core assembly being adapted to be rotatablysecured within the sleeve member, the core assembly being provided witha frictional clutch assembly which includes a plurality of slip rings, aspring and a lock ring when axially aligned within the sleeve member,allowing the core or nozzle member to rotate by means of a ball strikinga base portion of the core assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This inventionrelates generally to sprinkler heads and, more particularly, to a pop-uprotatable, fluid-pressure operable sprinkler head.

' Description of the prior art As is well known in the art, variousproblems and ditficulties are encountered in providing suitable meansfor watering lawns and the like. Particularly in pop-up sprinklers, thatis sprinklers having slidable heads which discharge water as the waterpressure forces the discharge head upwardly from the sprinkler body andrecedes back into the sprinkler body when the water pressure is turneded and not in use, many problems relating to material wear, waterleakage, high-frictional characteristics, corrosion and, in particular,clogging by foreign material have been encountered. Rotary-typesprinkler heads are generally complex in structure, having many movingparts causing a high percentage of breakdowns. The pop-up type sprinklerheads are disposed at ground level and are, thereby, exposed toadditional problems wherein foreign material, such as dirt, grass andleaves, may clog the area around the slidable head, causing the head notto operate properly, or not at all.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a sprinklerhead having a hollow body, threaded at both the upper and lower ends.The upper threaded end receives a cap member and the lower end receivesa conventional pipe, or conduit, whereby water may flow into the hollowbody. Within the cap member there is provided an opening adapted toreceive a slidable sleeve which is forced upwardly as the water pressureincreases within the hollow body. Rotatably secured within the sleeve bya threaded bushing is a core assembly which includes a tubular nozzle orcore member having a bore therein for passage of water from the hollowbody to atmosphere. Rotation of the tubular core is caused by theswirling action of the water which, in turn, causes a ball to whirlupwardly and strike a lug or shoulder projecting downwardly into theinterior of the main body, thereby forcing the nozzle to rotate at aspecific stabilized rate.

OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION The present invention has for animportant object a.

3,702,173 Patented Nov. 7, 1972 provision wherein clogging of the nozzlehead is prevented.

It is another object of the invention to provide a sprinkler head ofthis character wherein the raised nozzle is moved in a rotary manner ina plurality of increments of rotation.

It is further another object of the invention to provide a sprinklerhead adapted with a frictional clutch assembly for smooth and stablerotation of the nozzle head.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a nozzle of thischaracter having a greatly improved operation.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a. pop-up rotarysprinkler which is used at ground level and that does not allow foreignmaterial to enter therein.

It is another object of the invention to provide a device of thischaracter that is simple and rugged in construction.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a device of thischaracter having a relatively long working life.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a rotary pop-upsprinkler head having relatively few operating parts.

It is still a further object of the invention to provide a device ofthis character that is easy to service and maintain.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a device of thischaracter that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

The characteristics and advantages of the invention are furthersufficiently referred to in connection with the accompanying drawings,which represent one embodiment. After considering this example, skilledpersons will understand that variations may be made without departingfrom the principles disclosed and I contemplate the employment of anystructures, arrangements or modes of operation that are properly withinthe scope of the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring more particularly to theaccompanying drawings, which are for illustrative purposes only:

FIG. 1 is a transverse vie'w, partially in section, showing thesprinkler head in a non-activated position;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 1 and showing the sprinklerhead in an extended operating position;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the core assembly; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view illustrating a modification of a portion ofthe sprinkler head.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring more particularly toFIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a spray device or sprinkler head,generally indicated at 10. As illustrated, this type of sprinkler headis disposed in the ground 12. and is positioned level thereto. That is,the upper portion of the sprinkler 10 is positioned so that it is justabove ground level where the general height thereof is less than theheight of the surrounding growth, in order not to interfere with mowingoperations which generaly include lawn mowers, grass cutting devices andthe like. As shown, the sprinkler head comprises a hollow body indicatedgenerally at 14. The body 14 includes a lower, internally threaded part16 from which there is a flaring portion 18 terminating in acylindrical, internally-threaded top portion 20 The portion 18 isintermediate the lower end portion 16 and the upper end portion 20 sothat the intermediate portion 18 may be considered as being an invertedfrustoconical part.

The sprinkler head includes a top or cap member, indicated generally at22. Cap 22 includes a centrally positioned opening 24 which is definedby six depending sides, indicated by reference character 26, and eachbeing co-axial with the cap or cover 22. Said depending walls form aninwardly protruding flange member 28, said flange being externallythreaded and screwed into the upper threaded portion 20 of the body 14.

The axial bore 24 of the cap 22 communicates therethrough at its lowerportion with a chamber 30* which is peripherally defined by flange 32,the upper end of said chamber being defined by the lower wall 34 of thecentral portion of the cap or cover 22. From the central portion of thecap there extends an annular flange 36 thereabout, said flange 36 beingprovided with a peripheral rim 38.

A disc 40, adapted with external threads 42, is secured into the lowerportion 12 to a position whereat the upper surface of said disc is atthe lower end of the intermediate portion 18, said disc forming a bottommember for said intermediate portion. Annularly arranged about the disc40 are a plurality of slots 44 which are all inclined in the samedirection to cause water passing therethrough to swirl upwardly withinthe interior of the intermediate portion 18, the direction of swirlingmotion of the water passing said slots being indicated by the arrows 45in FIG. 2.

The disc 40 is also provided with a plurality of vertical openings 46therethrough, the axes of which are parallel to the axis of the disc 40.Flow of water or fluid through one of said openings 46 is controlled bya valve member 48 which comprises a flat piece of material which may beof metal, plastic or the like. The valve member is disposed between thehead of a screw 49 and the underside of the disc 40 said screw 49 beingadapted to be received in said disc.

There is provided a coil spring 50 which lines the interior walls of theintermediate portion 18 and is shaped to correspond thereto. The lowerend of the spring 50 engages the annular flange 52 just above the disc40 and, at this lower end, the coils of the spring 50 are normally incontact with each other. However, the upper part of the spring 50, thatis the part of said spring disposed in the upper portion of the body 18,is loosely coiled so that the respective coils are spaced apart, as bestshown in FIGS. 1 and 2. It is to be noted that the portions of thespring 50 disposed in the intermediate portion 18 of the body isfrustoconical in shape but inverted so that the smaller end of saidspring is at the bottom thereof. The upper portion of the spring 50disposed within the top portion 20 of the body is cylindrical. When thespring 50 is within the body 14 and the cap or cover 22 is screwed intothe upper portion 20 of said body, the upper coils of said spring areplaced under compression so that, in effect, the entire spring is undercompression. It is to be noted that the lower edge of the flange 32 ofthe cover engages the upper end of the spring 50' and provides areaction shoulder for the upper end of said spring to resiliently holdspring 50 in the hollow body or housing 18.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a sleeve member 54 is positioned within theopening or bore 24 and is adapted for axial slidable movement therein.The sleeve member 54 includes outer flat wall 56, corresponding to thewalls 26 of the bore 24, and at least one wall thereof is provided witha longitudinal key member 58 which cooperates slidably with a key way 59within one wall of the bore 24. Thus, it can be seen that the sleevemember 54 is limited to an upward and downward movement within the bore24 and is held against any rotation. The sleeve member 54 includes abore 60 at its upper end and an enlarged bore 62 adjacent the lower end,said enlarged bore having internal threads therein.

The upper end of the sleeve includes an end wall having a centralconical opening 65 therein. A transverse slot 66 is provided in thesleeve member adjacent the walls 64.

A core assembly indicated generally at 68, is positioned for rotatablemovement within the sleeve member 54 and is shown in detail in FIGS. 2and 5. The core assembly 68 has a tubular portion or nozzle 70' with aclosed upper end wall 71, there being provided a pair of annularly,upwardly-directed holes or passages 72 through the walls of the tubularportion or nozzle 70 and positioned adjacent the end wall 71 thereof.The passages 72 communicate with the interior bore 74 of the coreassembly. The lower end of the tubular portion 70 removed from the endwall 71 has a collar 76 threadably secured thereto, thus forming aflange in the nozzle 70.

At one side of the nozzle there is a string base portion of the collar76. In FIGS. 1, 2 and 5 the striking base portion comprises a dependinglug 78 which is curved from its inner upper end downwardly andoutwardly, and is also curved arcuately outwardly in opposite directionsfrom the inner central region.

As illustrated in the drawings, the core assembly 68 is adapted fordeposition with the sleeve member 54 with the passages 72 being inhorizontal alignment with the slot 66. The horizontal alignment with thepassages 72 is maintained by a frictional clutch assembly, generallyindicated at 80. The clutch assembly 80 comprises a threaded bushing 82having a central opening to receive the tubular nozzle 70 and isprovided with an annular flange 83 for supporting a gasket 84. Thethreaded portion of the bushing 82 is screwed into the threads 63 of thesleeve member 54 and thereby holds the gasket 84 in place therebetween,and serves to provide a seal between the flange 83 and the base of theopening 24, as shown in FIG. 2. A plurality of spacers 86 are positionedbetween the underside of the bUShing 82 and the upper face of th collar76 to provide, not only free movement therebetween, but, also, means foradjusting the position of the passages 72 relative to the slot 66. Inorder to accomplish a frictional engagement between the spacers 86 andthe stationary bushing 82, there is provided a biasing means shown as acoil spring 88 superimposed about the nozzle 70 having its lower portionsupported against the upper rim of the bushing 82 and its upper portionbiased against a retaining ring 90. The ring 90 is removably secured tothe nozzle 70 by means of an annular groove 92. The tension of spring 88is adjustable by the number of spacers 86. Additionally, a segmenteddeflector 87 is press-fitted within the lower portion of the nozzle bore74.

Within that portion of the body 14 between the disc 40 and the cover 22,there is disposed a striking means, such as ball 94, which may be of anysuitable character, said ball being shown, however, as a steel ball,such as a ball bearing, which may be plated with rust orcorrosionresistant material, such as chrome or any suitable material.The diameter of the ball 94 is smaller than the diameter of the lowerend of the intermediate body portion 18, and said ball is adapted to beforced upwardly and circularly within the body 14 by the water flowingthrough the slots 44.

Fluid or water is supplied to the sprinkler head by a conduit or pipe 98which is vertically disposed and is provided at its upper end with anexternally-threaded end portion which is threadably received within thelower end portion of the lower body portion 16.

When the water is turned off and the device is inoperative, the partsare in the position shown in FIG. 1, the sleeve member in the nozzlebeing telescoped into the interior of the body 14 with the lower end ofthe lug 78 and deflector 87 resting on the ball 94 which, in turn, restson the disc 40.

When water is turned into the sprinkler head the water from the pipe 98flows upwardly through the slots 44 into the interior of the bodybetween the disc 40' and cap 22. There is, also, an upward flow of waterthrough the openings 46 in the disc 40. The water flowing into theinterior of the body forces the sleeve and nozzle upwardly to theposition shown in FIG. 2 and causes the ball 94 to move in an upwardspiral path on the interior of the spring '50. The swirling action ofthe water causes the ball to twirl around in the spring 50 and, when theball reaches its upper position, as shown in FIG. 2, it will strike thelug 78 and cause the nozzle to rotate a limited amount. Because of thecurved inner surface of the lug 78, the ball will pass over said surfaceand beyond the lug.

The ball will continue to move around the interior surfaces of the coilsof spring 50 and will engage the underside of the flange 64 of thenozzle.

When the ball has moved in its circular path until it reaches the lug78, it will again strike said lug and rotate the nozzle anotherincrement of movement. This operation will continue as long as there iswater supplied to the device. At this point it should be noted that, dueto the frictional clutch assembly, the movement of the sprinkler nozzle70 is stable and smooth, allowing the water to spray in a more even anddirect manner. However, the same stable and smooth rotation of nozzle 70will occur when the alternative arrangement thereof, as shown in FIG. 6,is adopted. The striking base portion of the collar 76 is formed with arecess 79 having striking shoulders 79a spaced about the circumferentialarea. There are other means for receiving the striking force of thestriking means for effecting intermittent rotary movement of the nozzle70.

It is to be noted that the water flowing through the openings 46 isdirected into the interior of the body 14, generally parallel to theaxis thereof and the streams of water from the openings 46 will reducethe swirling action of the water entering the interior of the bodythrough the slots 44. While there may be any desired number of openings46, it has been found that two such openings are satisfactory and, byvarying the effective sizes of one of said openings 46 by means of thevalve 48, the effective swirling action on the ball 94 may be varied tomeet any particular requirements of an installation.

The invention and its attendant advantages will be understood from theforegoing description and it will be apparent that various changes maybe made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts of theinvention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof orsacrificing its material advantages, the arrangement hereinbeforedescribed being merely by way of example, and I do not wish to berestricted to the specific form shown or uses mentioned, except asdefined in the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. A rotary nozzle assembly for a sprinkler head wherein the sprinklerhead is disposed at ground level and wherein the improvement of saidnozzle comprises:

a sleeve member slidably disposed within said sprinkler head;

6 means for limiting rotation of said sleeve member; a nozzle corerotatably secured within said sleeve member and having laterallydirected ports adjacent the upper end thereof, and an annular flangedisposed at the opposite free end thereof, said flange adapted with astriking base thereon;

a striking means for engaging said striking base, causing rotation ofsaid nozzle;

means for limiting upward movement of said sleeve and said nozzle core;and

a frictional clutch means for controlling the rotational movement ofsaid nozzle core, said frictional clutch means includes:

a bushing threadably secured to said sleeve member; a lock ringremovably secured to the upper portion of said nozzle core; and abiasing means comprising a coil spring superimposed over said nozzlecore and biased between said bushing and said lock ring.

2. A rotary nozzle assembly according to claim 1, wherein saidfrictional clutch means includes means for adjusting said biasing means,said adjusting means being positioned between said lower portion of saidbushing and said annular flange of said nozzle core.

3. A rotary nozzle assembly according to claim 2, wherein said sleevemember includes a transverse slot in the upper portion thereof to bepositioned to overlie said ports of said nozzle core.

4. A rotary nozzle assembly according to claim 2, wherein said means foradjusting said biasing means comprises a plurality of spacers.

5. A rotary nozzle assembly according to claim 4, wherein said strikingbase comprises a lug depending downwardly from said flange of saidnozzle core.

6. A rotary nozzle assembly according to claim 4, wherein said strikingbase comprises a recess having a striking shoulder disposed within saidflange of said nozzle core.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,990,120 6/1961 Reynolds 239-206X 3,515,351 6/1970 Costa 239206 3,263,930 8/1966 Friedmann et a1.239--97 X M. HENSON WOOD, 1a., Primary Examiner E. D. GRANT, AssistantExaminer U.S. c1. X.R. 239 206

